Hugo García, Associate Professor of Modern and Classical Languages at Western Washington University, will give a talk titled “Santería Decoded: An Approach to Understanding the Formation of an Afro Cuban Religion” from 7-8 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 31 in the Bellingham City Council Chambers, 210 Lottie St.

The free, public talk is an installment of the WWU College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean’s Lecture Series and is co-sponsored by the City of Bellingham.

The Department of Modern and Classical Languages will host historian André-Carl Vachon for a pair of lectures on the WWU campus May 23 and 24 dealing with the ethnic cleansing of Acadians - those of French descent who settled in what are now Eastern Canada's Maritime provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island), as well as part of Quebec - by the British in the 1700s.

Sandra Alfers, professor of German and director of the Ray Wolpow Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity at Western Washington University, will discuss her research on the poetry of the Holocaust from 4-5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 17 in Western Libraries Special Collections on the 6th floor of Wilson Library.

The next Masters of Asian Cinema film is the 2016 feature Creepy. It will screen on Tuesday, March 14 at 6:30 p.m. at Pickford Film Center, 1318 Bay St. in downtown Bellingham.

Before his 2008 film "Tokyo Sonata"introduced new audiences to his work, Kurosawa Kiyoshi was known as a horror director. His films were not ordinary horror films as they focused more on the complex psychological states of his characters than on delivering visceral thrills. Kurosawa’s current film is something of a return to his roots.

Nelly Trocmé Hewett will speak about the French Plateau Vivarais-Lignon and the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, a place of safety and shelter for Jewish refugees during WWII, from 3-4:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 23 in Academic West 204 on the Western Washington University campus.

Joan M. Hoffman, a Spanish professor in the Modern and Classical Languages Department at Western Washington University, has had her article "The Death of the Angel: A Mother's 'Failure' in Los Pazos de Ulloa and a Daughter's 'Success' in La madre naturaleza" published in "Hispanic Journal," Vol. 37, No. 1.

Today is the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Western professor Ed Vajda was a grad student in Russia at the time, and he was hired by CBS News as an interpreter and news analyst to help cover the story. A few years ago, he shared this account of his experiences.

What is America’s largest national ethnic group? If you said, English, Italian, or Mexican, you’re wrong. Today, some 46 million Americans can claim German ancestry. The difference is, very few of them do. Indeed, aside from Oktoberfest, German culture has largely disappeared from the American landscape. What happened?

Sandra Alfers, an associate professor of German in the Department of Modern & Classical Languages, has published an article in a special volume of "Études Armeméniennes Contemporaines" focusing on "Victim Testimony and Understanding Mass Violence." The volume is edited by Alexandra Garbarini (Williams College) and Boris Adjemian (Bibliothèque Nubar, Paris).

Hugo Garcia, an associate professor of Spanish in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, presented the paper "El discurso antiesclavista de tres novelas cubanas: una porfía entre la suciedad y la limpieza" in the XV Congreso Internacional de Literatura Hispánica (15th Conference on Hispanic Literature) held in Antigua, Guatemala, from March 4 to 6.

Joan M. Hoffman (Modern and Classical Languages) has published "Voces femeninas de España: Una antología," an literary anthology containing uncut poems, short stories, and drama written by some 24 Spanish female authors from Medieval times to the present. The book was published by Penélope Academic Press, a private, peer-reviewed academic publisher located in Puerto Rico.